The rules in American style football provide for two distinct kinds of kicks. One is called a place kick and the other is called a punt. A place kick is, as the name implies, where the the ball is first placed and then kicked. Punts are kicks which are not placed. The types of place kicks are the kick off, the field goal and the conversion kick. Although punting has remained rather constant through the history of football, place kicking has seen several improvements. Early on, the drop kick method of scoring a field goal requiring the kicker to take the snap, drop the ball to the ground and time his foot to kick the ball just as the point of the ball touched the ground was abandoned in favor of a more carefully placed kick. This method included a traditional straight on and in line with the goal post approach to the ball. More recently, the traditional straight on approach to the ball was made obsolete by a side approach. The straight on approach produces a high trajectory path for the ball whereas the side approach produces a low trajectory path therefore resulting in a longer distance kick. By using the instep, the side approach eliminated the use of the toes to kick the ball and therefore made it possible to kick the ball with a bare foot. Almost every kick in football is made with such intense force that the bare toes will suffer severe injury if they come in contact with the ball or any other object during the kick. The three main advantages in using the barefoot method to kick a ball are (1) to be able to arch the foot in such a way as to stiffen the instep, (2) the improved speed at which the lightened foot can be directed and controlled, and (3) the smooth, unobstructed and accurate feeling produced by the bare foot making contact with the ball. The barefoot kick in football is performed with such risk that it requires some measure of dare. It is very similar to the martial art technique of breaking a board with a bare hand.
The use of the kicking spat improves the barefoot method to kick a ball by providing a more safe and accurate target to make contact with the ball without any loss of advantage, especially while learning this method.